Educational game.



E. K. 'D'ORERP EnucmuN'AL GAME.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27,1916.

Patented Jan. 2,1917;

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Ellfii'MA- K. DGBER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

To all whom it mag concern.-

Be it known that I, EMMaK. Donna, a citizen of the United States, residing at New (York, in the county of New York and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvementsin Educational Games, of which the following is a v specification. V

My invention relates tog'aines and to an appliance for playing the same. v

My object is 'toi-.provide'a game, board adapted to the playing of a number of interesting games designed" to afford amuse ment and instruction to both childrenand older persons. v

Another object is-to provide a deviceof this kind which will have an intrinsic value within itself as an educational appliance in the home.

, Another important ob 'ectis to provide a ganieivliicli employs, as e'fpart of the very warp and woof of the gam, certain symbols and certain information .'which ity is desired to impress upon t. e mind of the players.

A further object is to provide a device of this character, which will beneat and attractive in appearance, and durable in construction.

The invention consistsdn certain novel features which will be hereinafter described and claimed; reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which; illustrate my game boardyas employed for playing one of the'simple'st games" with which it is used. 1

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a top plan view of my game board, and Fig. 2 is a central section thereof.

The board in the foun -here illustrated is designed to familiarize children with the letters of .the alphabet, and with the first five numerals.

The numeral 1 indicates the board which is formed of any suitable material, and is preferably square. It is. provided with a circular field bounded byjthe circle 2.

field, are indicated bythe numerals 7 8, 9,-

This circular field is further divided into concentric rings or-zones by the circles 3, 4, 5', and 6, allof said circles being equidistant from each other. The zones, beginning at the circumference of this circular and- 10, respectively and theportion at the center of the/board inclosed by the ring 6,

' is indicated by the numeral 11, I

sensational. GAME.

' Specification of Letters i atent.

circle 2, opposite the outer ends The circular field is divided into two equal parts by the heavy'horizontally dis posed diametrical line A, and each of these parts is divided intothirteen equalparts I) by the radial lines a which extend from which letters are placed just outside the of said twenty six radial spaces.v

The letter A is opposite the outer end a of the upper radial section at thevleft'side of the lower half of the circular field, and the letters read around from left to right, so that the radial parts or segments 'forn1- ing the lower half of the circular field,

haveopposite them the letters of the alpha-' bet'from A to Minclusive, while the upper part of the field has the letters N to Z inclusive, p The board illustrated in the drawingsis arranged for two playersone to be seated at the lower side of theboard and the other at the upper side, each, player" usinglthe part of the board on his side of the heavy diametrical line A. Seated in this way, it will be seen that the letters at each play- Patented Jan. 2, 1917. Application .filed m 2;, 19161 Serial No. 111,736. l

ers side of the board will be right side up? to him. I p

lVhile each "radial portion Z) of the circus lar field has a letter of the alphabet at its outer end, it has also a numeral at its inner end; and these numerals are likewise so arranged that each players numerals appear right side up to-him. The middle radial section of each half of thecircular-field has at its inner end the numeral 1; and the numerals are so arranged at each side of the board that they read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, whether read forward or backward. That is to say; they read up Ito 5 and then they begin to repeat;v because in the present instance it is only desired to deal with the courage them tobegin'to count, up tothat first five numerals, in order to teach, dren the iorm of these numerals, andt number. 1

could. be adopted,without in the leastchanging' the way of playing the game, if it weredesired to make the change,as, for instance, they could begin with 1 placed 0p posite the letter A,and go around to 26 oppoSiteZ, which. would associate each letter BEST AVAILABLE cos I with the figure or figures indicating its proper numerical order in the alphabet. Or the small letters of the alphabet might take the place of the numerals at the inner ends of the radial segments. Of course, the letters of the alphabet which appear on the drawings might be placed on theradial segments instead of just opposite their outer ends.

At the center of the board and slightly above the face thereof I provide an arrow 12 which is mounted to loosely rotate on a pivot 13 at-the center of the board, the pivot having at its lower end a threaded portion 14 for conveniently and iirmly engaging the board.

In connection with'my board I employ the playing blocks or disks 1:), of which I provide any desired number, but preferably (in the present instance), thirteen for each half of the board; to correspond to the whole number of radial segments .7), or to the twenty-six letters of the alphabet which appear around the circumference oi": the circular field.

In playing the game, each player takes turn about in giving the arrow 12 a whirl; andwhere the arrow points when it comes to rest, is the place where a play must be made. When the arrow has been given a whirl and stops in the position indicated in Fig. 1, the party who sits at the upper side of the board has the play because the arrow points to one of the radial segments on his side of the board. He says UV, and takes one of the disks 1:") and places it in the first or outer zone 7 of the segment til: then the arrow is given another whirl by the opposite party from the one who whirled it before, and if it stops again in the same position as before, the player at the upper side of the board again says MY and moves his disk from zone 7 to zone 8 (toward the center of the board) in the segment UV, etc.

The object of the player is to get all his disks across all four of the zones into the space 11 at the center of the board where the arrow is. When a disk crosses the line (3 from the zone 10 into 11, it is home; and the player who gets all'his disks or men home first, has won the game. As soon as a disk has reached home in the central space 11, it can be removed from the board and laid aside so as to give a clear field for the arrow to whirl in. But one of the most amusing parts of the game is when the arrow,

after being whirled by one of the players, comes to rest pointing at one of the radial lines a; for then, any disk 15 which happens to be in either of the radial segments 6 on either side of that line, must he moved backward (outward) one zone. That is, to say; suppose the arrow stops in the position indi cated in dotted lines in Fig. 1: and let us further suppose that the player seated at the upper end of the board has two of his disks in the position indicated by dotted lines; namely, one disk in zone 9 of 2S, and one in zone 8 of 3H; then he will have to more each one of these disks outward (backward) one zone: that is, the disk in the segment 28 of zone 9 will have to be moved to 23 zone 8, and the one in 3R of zone 8 will have to be moved backward to 3R of zone 7 lVhen the arrow comes to rest in the position indicated in dotted lines, it gives the player at the lower side of the board great amusement when his opponent has to announce 3, '2, R, S, and move his disks in those segments back and.

The number of persons who may engage in playing a game with my device is not at all limited to two. Twenty-six persons could all play the game at one time if desired, by

each person taking one segment opposite a u given letter of the alphabet. If one of a grou p of players takes twoor three letters (say the initials of his name), and plays on the segments opposite those letters only, he will have just as good a-chancc to win the game as the fellow who is playing on twice or three times as many, letters, because that fellow will have to landtwice or three times as man; aks inside the inner circle in order to win game. Hence it may be left optional with a player asto how many letters (or segments) he will take in a game.

For each player to play on one segment only, simplifies the game very much for little children. and enables a large number of then'i to play the game at one time, which is often desirable,.as children generally enjoy playing in large gre Playing the game in this way the elm-c attention of all the children is held, since each one eagerly awaits his turn to whirl the arrow; and then each one almost holds his breath to if it will not stop opposite his segment, or possibly opposite 1:. radial line I will n m ":cribe another very interesting way for .nldren. to play a game on this boardgthe. object of this method being twofold, as follows: First,in addition to fa miliarizing them with the .letters of the alphabet, to teach them to count readily and accurately up to five, and to quickly recognize the first five figures or digits when they see them. Secondly:to make the game proceed sufficiently fast to prevent them from becoming weary.

It has already been pointed out that the circular field of the board is divided into five zones indicated on the drawings by the nu morals 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11; and that the first five figures or digits-1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are

used at the inner ends of the segments 6 surrounding the arrow. Now, these five figures have direct reference to the zones on the board which are also five in number.

Let us suppose that the children are playing the game in the way we are now considering; and that the arrow is pointing at 4:, as indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings: then the player at the upper side of the board will say W4the ,W indicating the segzone, he. says, fone; and as he moves it intothe next zone ('8) he says, two; and so on,

' till he hasmoved it toward the center four zones, or to zone 10. Then let us suppose that the arrow after having been whirled again, stops next time at 3 in the segment V. That position of the arrow will permit the player at the upper side of the boardto place a disk on the letter V and move it down the segment Vtoward the center of the circular field, three zones which will be to zone'9.

But if'jhe prefers, he can, instead-of that,

move the disk'that is now, on zone 10 of segment W, from zone 10 to zone 11, which will put that disk home, and still leave two moves coming to. him, which will permit him to move the disk on the segment V across zone -7 into zone 8. In playing the game that 'way,"the child has to subtract the one move (made on the segment W) from\ the, three moves du'e him on the segment V: and thus he begins uslearn subtraction.

If in playing the game as just indicated, the arrow stops at 5, that permits the player at that side of the board to move a disk clear home to the zone 11 at one move. Hence, it 'will be seen that, playing the game in this way, makes it go fast enough and 'easy'enough to please small children.

v It is purely optional as to how many segments my circularfield may be. divided into: that is determined by the number of objects/it is ,desired to impress upon the mind ofthe "players.

The letters of the alphabet at the outer ends otthe segments 6, are inclosed by the' angles 16, which form a series of points around the circular field. I

A The names or the photographs of public characters, as for instance, the Presidents of the United States, may take the place of the letters of the alphabet on my board, till the players have become thoroughly familiar with their names and the order of their election. Likewise, again, the names of differ-- ent States of the United States may take the place of the letters of the alphabet: or the names of the chief cities of the country: or the names of the capitals of the States, or of the great countries of the world. The segments and zones may be filled with the pic tures of great public buildings with very brief descriptionsthereof: or with the names and dates of great national events; or of national holidays, as July 4; Feby. 22; May Dec. 25; etc.

Suppose it is desirable to familiarize a child with the leaders, localities, etc, that became conspicuous in the Civil lVarf then We may have a very interesting war game, by substituting for the letters of the alphabet, thenames of those persons and places, and things; or some suitable photograph of them. On one side of the circular field of the board could appear the names of Lincoln, Stanton, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Washington city, Gettysburg'etc. On the other half would appear Davis, Benjamin, Lee, Jackson, Stuart, Richmond, Atlanta, etc.- On one side of the board could be a picture of the Monitor, and on'the other side a-picture of the Merrimac. On one side, inv

Having thus described my invention, and

pointed out its general principles; and hav ing specifically illustrated and described one form thereof; what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. In a device of thecharacterdescribed, a

board provided with a circular field having a central circle and a plurality of concentric circles, between said central circle and themargin of the circular field to divide said.

field into a series of zones a series of radial lines intersecting said circles and dividing that part of the circular field into a series of radial segments; game piecesdesigned to be moved to diiierent zones 111 said segments identifying characters on the-segments iii- 7 dirflating the names ofthe differentsegments,

and the zone within each segment to ,ivhiclr the gamepiece is to be moved when a play is to be made on that segment; and a rotatable indicator mounted at the center of the board, adapted to be twirled to indicate the segments upon which the-successive playsare tobe made.

2. In a device of the character described,

a board provided with a circular field have ing a plurality of concentric circles spaced an equal distance from each other to form said circular field into a series of zones; a

series of radial lines equidistantfrom each other intersecting said circles and dividing the circular field into a series ofradi'al segments; the number of said lines and segments being an even number, whereby to cause each radial line to be in alinement with another radial line at the opposite side of the .center of the, circular field; a heavy dia-- BEST AVAILABLE COP be made.

3. A game board provided with a circular field having a plurality of concentric circles spaced an equal distance from each other. to form said field into a series of zones; :1 diametrical line dividing said circular field into two equal parts; a series of radial lincs equidistant from each other, said radial lines intersecting said circles and dividing the circular field into a series of equal radial segments; a letter of the alphabet at the outer end and a numeral at' the inner end of each segment; and a rotatable indicator mounted at the center of said circular field.

4.111 a device of the character described, a board provided with a circular field having a central circle and a plurality of concentric circles betweensaid central circle and the margin of the "circular field to divide said portion of the circular field into a series of zones; aserics of radial lines intersecting said circles and dividing that portion ot the circular field into a series of radial segments; numerical symbols on said segments, there. being as many different symbols emplo u-d as there are zones surrounding said central circle, each symbol designating one of said zones; game pieces employed with said board and designed to be moved on said segments to the zones indicated by the respective nu lnerals on the segments; and a rotatable indicator mounted at the center of said circular field and designed to be twirled by the players to caps'e the indicator to stop opposite di'fi'erentioncs of said segments to indicate where each play is to be made.

In a device of the character described, a board provided with a circular field having a central circle and a plurality of concentric circles between said central circle and the margin of the circular field to divide said portion of the circular field into a series of zones; 21 series of radial lines intersecting said circles and dividing that portion of the circular field into a series of radial segments;

identifying .nl'unerals at the inner ends of said segments, the numerals employed be: ginning with a given numeral designating the outer zone and increasing consecutively till as many ditterent numerals have been employed as there are zones surrounding the central circle, a rotatable indicator mounted at the center of said circular field, and designed to be twirled by the players before each play. to cause the indicator to stop opposite dill'erent ones of said segments, to thus indicate the segment upon which each play is to be made; and game pieces em- "0 ployed with said board and designed to be moved on said segments, from the margin of" the circular field toward the center thereot as many zones as indicated by the rela-. tire value of the muneral on the segment at which the arrow points when it stops after being twirled.

In a device of the character described, a board provided with a circular field having a central circl and a plurality of concentric circles between said central circle and the margin of the circular field to divide said portion of the circular field into a series of zones: a series of radial lines intersecting I said circles and dividing that portion of the circular field into a series of radial segments; numerical symbols at the inner ends of said segments. there being as many diti'erent symbols employed as there are zones surrounding the central circle, said symbols beginning with "l which is employed to designate the outer yone and increasing consecutively, each Si lffttal ing numeral indicating one more than the numeral preceding it, a rotatable indicat r mounted at the center of said circular field, and designed to be twirled by the players before each play, to cause the indicator to stop opposite different ones of said segments, to thus indicate the segment upon which each play is to be made; and game pieces employed with said board and designed to be moved on said segments, from the margin of the circular field toward the, center thereof, as many zones as indicated by the value of the numeral on the segment 105 at which the arrow points when it stops after being twirled.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

EMMA K. DORER.

Witnesses:

' R. J. REDIGK,

J. F. HoR ucAN. 

